Goodbye Meg, and thank you so much
Madeleine L'Engle died yesterday at 88 years old. I think I would be hard pressed to find someone more influential on my sense of self in the context of society, morality, family, love, and a concept of god or an absolute.
I am incredibly indebted to Mary Melvin for introducing me to L'Engle's work and the woman herself (even getting her to buy some lemonade from my street corner stand at the corner of Withrow and Talawanda after Miami's convocation in what must have been 1983 or so).
It seems silly to emphasize how hugely important L'Engle is on the much larger sense of self then talk about her influence on my appreciation of literature, but frankly I cannot overemphasize how without her fantastic I undoubtedly would never have felt so immediately familiar with Calvino or as interested in the quasi science fiction of Bradbury. At the same time Vonnegut probably abstracted the same balance of from a cockier, more cynical posture. At the same time L'Engle provides the frame for understanding Hannah Arendt's post holocaust philosophy.
Fiction for her is meant to be enjoyed, but ultimately it is meant to inform.
The NYTimes has her quoted as saying juvenile literature is too complicated for adults - this may well be true, but what a phenomenal job she did enabling us to become well rounded ones.
I am incredibly indebted to Mary Melvin for introducing me to L'Engle's work and the woman herself (even getting her to buy some lemonade from my street corner stand at the corner of Withrow and Talawanda after Miami's convocation in what must have been 1983 or so).
It seems silly to emphasize how hugely important L'Engle is on the much larger sense of self then talk about her influence on my appreciation of literature, but frankly I cannot overemphasize how without her fantastic I undoubtedly would never have felt so immediately familiar with Calvino or as interested in the quasi science fiction of Bradbury. At the same time Vonnegut probably abstracted the same balance of from a cockier, more cynical posture. At the same time L'Engle provides the frame for understanding Hannah Arendt's post holocaust philosophy.
Fiction for her is meant to be enjoyed, but ultimately it is meant to inform.
The NYTimes has her quoted as saying juvenile literature is too complicated for adults - this may well be true, but what a phenomenal job she did enabling us to become well rounded ones.
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